Many studies have found that systemic inflammation plays an important role in the pathogenesis of atrial fibrillation (AF). Gout is a chronic systemic inflammatory disorder, but little evidence exists regarding whether the risk of AF is increased in patients with gout. The National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan was used in this study, and gout was defined as the occurrence of at ...

The natural history of gout typically consists of three periods in a continuum: asymptomatic hyperuricaemia, episodes of acute attacks of gout with asymptomatic intervals, and chronic gouty arthritis. The last decade has seen major advances in our knowledge of acute attacks of gout with the discovery of the pivotal role of interleukin 1 (IL-1); however, the mechanisms that trigger acute flares ...

BACKGROUND An association has been suggested between gout and erectile dysfunction (ED), however studies quantifying the risk of ED amongst gout patients are lacking. We aimed to precisely determine the population-level absolute and relative rate of ED reporting among men with gout over a decade in England. METHODS We utilised the UK-based Clinical Practice Research Datalink to identify 9653 ...

BACKGROUND Many different combinations of available data have been used to identify gout cases in large genetic studies. The aim of this study was to determine the performance of case definitions of gout using the limited items available in multipurpose cohorts for population-based genetic studies. METHODS This research was conducted using the UK Biobank Resource. Data, including genome-wide ...

OBJECTIVE Patients with hyperuricemia or gout often have metabolic syndrome. Few prospective studies have examined the risk of incident diabetes mellitus (DM) in patients with gout, and there are no data to indicate whether the risk of DM in gout differs by sex. Therefore, this cohort study was undertaken to examine the overall and sex-specific incidence rates of DM in patients with gout. MET...

BACKGROUND All published studies of health care utilization in gout have been cross-sectional to date, and most used a patient-reported diagnosis of gout. Our objective was to assess health care utilization and its predictors in patients with physician-confirmed gout in a prospective cohort study. METHODS In a multi-center prospective cohort study of U.S. veterans with rheumatologist-confirme...

BACKGROUND To characterize the differences between women and men with gout. METHODS We analyzed a US national cohort of gout patients cared for by rheumatologists. RESULTS Compared with the 1012 men with gout, women with gout (n = 262) were older (71 vs. 61 years, p < 0.001) and had a greater burden of comorbid conditions (p < 0.001 for hypertension, diabetes, renal disease and obesity). Ri...

If left untreated, gout may result in radiographic abnormalities, that is, cartilage loss and periarticular osteopenia plus more-or-less gout-specific radiographic abnormalities: spurs, sclerosis, and periostal new bone formation. In the current issue, Dalbeth and colleagues describe findings from about 800 joints in 20 mostly tophaceous patients, which can help clinicians to identify osteopath...

BACKGROUND Comorbidities are common in patients with gout, yet qualitative research is lacking. The study objective was to examine the impact of gout on comorbidities. METHODS Nine nominal groups were conducted. Patients with gout discussed and rank-ordered their concerns in response to the question, "How does gout or its treatment affect your other conditions and their treatment?" RESULTS ...

BACKGROUND Patient satisfaction with treatment directly impacts adherence to medication. OBJECTIVE The objective was to assess and compare treatment satisfaction with the Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medication (TSQM), gout-specific health-related quality of life (HRQoL) with the Gout Impact Scale (GIS), and generic HRQoL with the SF-12v2(®) Health Survey (SF-12) in patients with ...